Getting ready for cheat day was almost like getting ready for Thanksgiving. I went through much care and preparation to develop a menu that was both delicious and easy on our digestive system. (I decided to forgo the pound of bacon this time) Sunday has become much like I remember as a child, church in the morning and large hearty meals later. I get very excited when I think of what we are going to eat and how nice it is to know we don't have to skimp on flavor for calorie sake. Bring on the whole milk!
On Saturday I began the preparation for my delicious Gelato. (Click on the word for the link) Jason loves coffee lovers ice cream at Cold Stone. Since I was feeling adventurous, I decided to make some homemade coffee gelato for Jason. Unfortunately there were no straight cut recipes and I had to go out on my own. Many called for crushed coffee beans or instant coffee, none of which I had. I opted to brew some espresso and just add it to the gelato. For mine I wanted chocolate mint. Again no recipe in hand so I added 6 oz of chocolate and 1 tsp of mint extract. They both smelled amazing. I wanted to lick the saucepan but Jason said that was cheating. I finally pressure him into having one finger lick so I could too! I know, that was bad but I really wanted to have some and couldn't bear to do it alone!
With that in the refrigerator to chill, I began to make breakfast. It is a lovely Overnight French Toast Casserole. Since the gelato needed egg yolks, I used the left over egg whites in this recipe.
8 egg whites and 2 regular eggs
1 ½ cup whole milk
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
1 loaf of french bread cut into 1" slices
Arrange slices into a well greased 15x9 pan. Whip all ingredients together until well mixed. Pour over bread. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
In the morning I got up and preheated the oven to 350. In the saucepan over medium heat melt ½ cup butter and ½ cup brown sugar. Cook for a couple of minutes until the sugar is melted and pour over bread. Over top of that I sprinkled one container of fresh blueberries. Cover with tin foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove tin foil and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Alongside the casserole I cooked the bacon. Brewed some coffee and poured some orange juice. It was a lovely breakfast.
For lunch we ate the leftover pizza from last week. For dinner we enjoyed a thick ribeye steak. Jason cooked them perfectly. I sprinkled some Chicago steak seasoning on both sides. While it cooked we added a couple of potatoes on the grill and made a salad. Jason and I both love blue cheese, and we both love it on our steak. In the past it has been a disappointment as the blue cheese would either fall off the steak or not completely melt before the steaks were done. I decided to sauté some red onion in some butter and add the blue cheese in a pan. I shut off the heat and it stayed nice and warm until Jason brought in the steaks. We smothered them with the blue cheese onion mixture and it was outstanding! I could barely finish the meal.
It took a couple of hours before we were ready for our gelato. Jason's turned out really good. The espresso flavor crept up on you but it was not overpowering. Mine was pretty good but I think I just ate too much. We mixed in nut toppings, a health bar and covered it with hot caramel topping. Oh my, it made a bunch!
Our weigh in was yesterday. So far I have lost 7 pounds and Jason has lost 15. After last cheat day we each gained one pound. It is nice to have a break and not feel guilty over the next week every time I get on the scale. Jason lost 3 ½ inches in his stomach but we aren't officially doing our measurements until the end of the month. We are very excited about our progress so far.
Back to the grind, cardio tomorrow!
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